The Federal Government subsidized electricity with N471.69 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 (Q4 2024), according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
It represented 57 per cent of the total energy generated in the period under review, being payment of subsidy arising from the suspension of the end-use customer tariff at the rates payable in July 2024, according to NERC’s document entitled: “Quarterly Report 2024.”
The report said: “The NBET invoice payable by the DisCos for 2024/Q4 was only N360.97 billion because the FGN has taken responsibility for ~57per cent (N471.69 billion) of the total generation costs in the form of subsidies arising from the freezing of end-use customer tariffs at the rates payable in July 2024.”
NERC said both local and international bilateral customers made payments during 2024/Q4 for outstanding Market Operator (MO) invoices from previous quarters.
According to the report, while “the international bilateral customers paid $2.98 million while the domestic bilateral customers paid N135.81 million.”
NERC said the total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2024/Q4 was N509.84 billion out of the N658.40 billion that was billed to customers.
The report noted that it translated to a collection efficiency of 77.44 per cent.
In comparison, said NERC, the total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2024/Q3 was N466.69 billion out of the N626.02 billion billed to customers, which translated to a 74.55per cent collection efficiency.
It also said the 77.44per cent collection efficiency recorded in 2024/Q4 is +2.89pp higher than the collection efficiency recorded in 2024/Q3 (74.55per cent).
NERC said similar to the trend observed in 2024/Q3, Eko (90.00per cent) and Ikeja (82.63per cent) DisCos recorded the highest collection efficiencies in 2024/Q4.
Conversely, the report said, Jos DisCo recorded the lowest collection efficiency at 49.68 per cent.
It further noted that a comparison of DisCos performance shows that eight DisCos recorded improvements in collection efficiency between 2024/Q3 and 2024/Q4, with Yola (+13.93pp) and Kano (+9.88pp) recording the greatest improvements.
NERC said conversely, “the remaining three DisCos recorded declines in collection efficiency with Jos (-3.61pp) and Abuja (-3.39pp) DisCos having the most significant declines over the period.”
On Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) Loss: the report explained that “the Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) loss is a summation of – i) billing losses incurred by a DisCo due to its inability to bill 100per cent of energy delivered to customers (technical and commercial losses); ii) collection losses arising from the DisCo’s inability to collect 100per cent of the bills issued to customers.”
NERC said the weighted average ATC&C loss across all the DisCo in 2024/Q4 was 35.22 per cent, comprising technical and commercial loss (16.34per cent) and collection loss (22.56per cent).
It added that the ATC&C loss of 35.22per cent was +10.44pp higher than the MYTO target (24.78per cent) and translates to a cumulative revenue loss of N139.08 billion across all DisCos.
The report said the ATC&C loss decreased by -3.88pp (improved performance) compared to 2024/Q3 (39.10per cent).
It stressed that only Yola and Eko DisCos achieved their target ATC&C, as provided in the MYTO during the quarter.
The other DisCos, according to NERC, failed to achieve their target ATC&C, with Kaduna DisCo recording the worst underperformance relative to the target ATC&C (Actual –60.65per cent vs. target – 25.00per cent)
On market remittance, NERC said it in 2024/Q4, the cumulative upstream invoice payable by DisCos was N408.86 billion, consisting of N360.97 billion for DRO-adjusted generation costs from NBET2 and N47.89 billion for transmission and administrative services by the Market Operator (MO).
The report said out of this amount, the DisCos collectively remitted a total sum of N378.93 billion (N336.63 billion for NBET and N42.30 billion for MO) with an outstanding balance of N29.92 billion. Continuing, the report said, “This translates to a remittance performance of 92.68per cent in 2024/Q4 compared to the 83.77per cent recorded in 2024/Q3.
“The disaggregated DisCo remittance performance to the market for 2024/Q4 is presented in Figure D.
“Remittance by Special and Bilateral Customers: In 2024/Q4, the six international bilateral customers purchasing power from the grid connected GenCos made a cumulative payment of $5.21 million against the $14.05 million invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q4.
“Similarly, the domestic bilateral customers made a cumulative payment of N1,252.58 million against the N1,977.02 million invoice issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q4.”
